In 2011, the population of Ottawa - Gatineau census metropolitan area (CMA) was 1,236,324, representing a percentage change of 9.1% from 2006. This compares to the national growth of 5.9% and to the average growth among all CMAs of 7.4%.

In Ottawa - Gatineau, the land area is 6,287.03 square kilometres with a population density of 196.6 persons per square kilometre. This compares to the national land area of 8,965,121.42 square kilometres with a population density of 3.7 persons per square kilometre. The land area of all CMAs is 92,648.98 square kilometres with 249.58 persons per square kilometre.

In total, there were 498,636 private dwellings occupied by usual residents in Ottawa - Gatineau in 2011. The change in private dwellings occupied by usual residents from 2006 was 10.7%. For Canada as a whole, the number of private dwellings occupied by usual residents increased 7.1%.

In 2011, the percentage of the population aged 65 and over in Ottawa - Gatineau was 12.7%, compared with a national percentage of 14.8%. The percentage of the working age population (15 to 64) was 70.2% and the percentage of children aged 0 to 14 was 17.1%. In comparison, the national percentages were 68.5% for the population aged 15 to 64 and 16.7% for the population aged 0 to 14.

Ottawa - Gatineau – Population by broad age groups and sex

Table 4 Ottawa - Gatineau – Population by broad age groups and sex, and population change between 2006 and 2011, 2006 to 2011 censuses

Ottawa - Gatineau – Presence of children within couple families

Among couples (married and common-law) in the census metropolitan area of Ottawa - Gatineau, 49.4% were couples with children aged 24 and under at home. In comparison, as a whole, 46.9% of couples in Canada had children aged 24 and under at home.

Among couples with children aged 24 and under at home in the census metropolitan area of Ottawa - Gatineau, 87.6% were intact families, that is, in which all children were the biological or adopted children of both parents, while 12.4% were stepfamilies, in which there was at least one child was the biological or adopted child of only one married spouse or common-law partner. For Canada as a whole in 2011, 12.6% of couples with children aged 24 and under were stepfamilies.

Ottawa - Gatineau – Types of private households

There were 498,635 private households4 in Ottawa - Gatineau in 2011, a change of 10.7% from 2006. Of these, 27.5% of households were comprised of couples with children aged 24 and under at home, a change of 3.5% compared with five years earlier.

Ottawa - Gatineau – Structural type of dwelling

In Ottawa - Gatineau, 45.4% of private households lived in single-detached houses and 14.5% lived in apartments in buildings that have five or more storeys. The rest lived in other types of dwelling structures.

Language

Ottawa - Gatineau – Mother tongue

Note: Counts for mother tongue as well as those for language spoken most often at home include single responses only.

In Ottawa - Gatineau, 49.0% of the population reported English only as mother tongue, 31.4% reported French only, and 16.7% reported only a non-official language, in 2011. In comparison, the provincial / territorial percentages were 68.2% for English only, 3.9% for French only and 25.7% for only non-official languages.

In 2011, 58.8% of the population spoke only English most often at home, 28.3% spoke only French and 8.6% spoke only a non-official language. In comparison, the provincial / territorial percentages were 79.0% for English only, 2.2% for French only and 14.4% for only a non-official language.

Note: Counts for mother tongue and home language include single response of a language as well as multiple responses of a language with English and/or French.

English

99.0

97.5

1.5

French

93.3

84.9

8.4

Non-official language

81.2

57.6

23.6

Ottawa - Gatineau – Non-official languages

In Ottawa - Gatineau, the three most common mother tongues were Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (1.3%) and Chinese, n.o.s. (1.1%), in 2011. In comparison, the most common mother tongues at the provincial / territorial level were Italian (2.1%), Chinese, n.o.s. (1.6%) and Cantonese (1.5%).

Notes:

Ottawa - Gatineau – This census metropolitan area has the following data quality indicators (commonly referred to as data quality flags):

2006 adjusted count; most of these are the result of boundary changes.

Median age: Age 'x' that divides a population in two groups of the same population size, one group being older than age 'x' and the other group being younger than age 'x'.

Census family: Refers to a married couple (with or without children), a common-law couple (with or without children) or a lone parent family.

Household, private: Refers to a person or a group of persons (other than foreign residents) who occupy a private dwelling and do not have a usual place of residence elsewhere in Canada.

Household type: Refers to the basic division of private households into family and non-family households. Family household refers to a household that contains at least one census family, that is, a married couple with or without children, or a couple living in common-law with or without children or a lone parent living with one or more children.

Multiple-family households: Refers to a household in which two or more census families (with or without additional persons) occupy the same private dwelling.

Other households: Refers to two or more people who share a private dwelling, but who do not constitute a census family.

Other single-attached house: A single dwelling that is attached to another building and that does not fall into any of the other categories, such as a single dwelling attached to a non-residential structure (e.g., a store or a church) or occasionally to another residential structure (e.g., an apartment building).

Movable dwelling includes mobile homes and other movable dwellings such as houseboats and railroad cars.

Mother-tongue retention: Retention refers to the situation where people speak their mother tongue at home. Retention is defined as 'complete' when the mother tongue is the language spoken most often and 'partial' when it is spoken on a regular basis but not most often. The (complete or partial) retention rate refers to the proportion of the population with a given mother tongue that speaks that language at home most often or on a regular basis. The retention rate provides an indication of a group's linguistic vitality, particularly the importance of transmitting languages between generations.